Method and system for linking legacy dvd discs to related web sites

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a WebDVD player to link legacy DVD discs to related web sites and to play normal WebDVD discs. The player includes a database containing a URL list of popular DVD content providers. After the disc is loaded into the player, the player reads the provider unique identification (PVR ID) and uses the PVR ID to find URL of associated content provider from URL list. URL of content provider is indexed to a table containing a list of some popular title identifications (Title IDs) of discs, location of Title ID on the disc, method of deriving Title ID, and URL of a related web site. The player then attempts to derive the Title ID of the disc according to the method in the table and compares the derived Title ID with the data in the Title ID column of the table to find the corresponding URL for locating the web pages of the content provider.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to DVD players, and more particularly toWebDVD players that allow existing legacy DVD discs to be linked torelated web sites.

WebDVD, also known as Internet DVD, online DVD, enhanced navigation(ENav) DVD, etc., is a powerful concept of enhancing DVD-Video withInternet technology. WebDVD combines the best of DVD with the best ofthe Internet, so that they nicely complement each other and findapplications in many areas. For example, a WebDVD movie can be connectedto the Internet for promotional deals, viewer discussion forums,multiplayer games, etc. A marketing disc can entice viewers withgorgeous video products backed up by web pages for on-the-spotpurchases. The possibilities are endless. WebDVD titles take advantageof the timeliness of the Internet with automatic software updates,supplemental content as new information becomes available, updated linksto related web pages, current news and events, and special offers ofassociated services and products, etc. Thus, even after the WebDVD discleaves the hands of the developers, it can still be improved orrefreshed. What would otherwise be a static medium becomes dynamic andrenewable, extending the life of the product.

The DVD Forum, an industrial consortium (http://www.dvdforum.org), isnow defining a standard for web contents linked to WebDVD-Video discs.It allows DVD-Video discs to include built-in web links to web sitesthat contain contents related to the specific discs. The web sites mayinclude new navigation menus for the player to download, so that theplayer can use them instead of the original DVD menus.

For existing legacy DVD-Video discs, however, it is not possible to havethe enhanced contents provided on a web site and used in connection withthe discs in the same way as for new WebDVD-Video discs. This wouldhinder and in fact prevent the high growth potentials of e-commerceactivities in connection with playing the uncountable number of legacydiscs by their owners.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to provide a WebDVD player that canlocate a web site with contents related to an existing legacy DVD disc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a WebDVD player that can link legacy DVDdiscs to related web sites, in addition to playing normal WebDVD discs.

According to a first embodiment of the invention, the player includes asmall database that contains a URL list of popular DVD contentproviders, e.g., AOL Time Warner, Walt Disney, etc. After the disc isloaded into the player, the player reads the provider uniqueidentification (PVR_ID) from the disc and uses the PVR_ID to find theURL of the associated content provider from the URL list. The URL of thecontent provider is indexed to a table which contains a list of somepopular title identifications (Title_IDs) of the discs produced by thecontent provider, location of the Title_ID on the disc, the method ofderiving the Title_ID, and the URL of a related web site. The playerthen attempts to derive the Title_ID of the disc in accordance with themethod specified in the table and compares the derived Title_ID with thedata in the Title_ID column of the table to find the corresponding URLfor locating the specific web pages of the content provider.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, a database similar tothat in the player of the first embodiment is stored on a web server.This database has more comprehensive lists of the URL links to the websites of the content providers and their video titles for accessing bythe player. In the this embodiment, after the disc is loaded into theplayer, the player reads the PVR_ID and the Title_ID from the disc andlinks the disc to a source web site containing the database which may beprovided by the player manufacturer or some other organization (e.g.,DVD Forum) for searching a match.

A third embodiment of the invention combines the first and secondembodiments. After the disc is loaded into the player, the player firstrefers to its internal database to find a matching Title_ID. If itcannot be found, the player will access the source web site to find thematching Title_ID.

Other objects and attainments together with a fuller understanding ofthe invention will become apparent and appreciated by referring to thefollowing description and claims taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is explained in further detail, and by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a connection between a WebDVD player to the Internetaccording to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a detailed process of locating a related web site fora particular disc according to a first embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 3 illustrates a detailed process of locating a related web site fora particular disc according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate similar orcorresponding features or functions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a connection between a WebDVD player 10 to theInternet according to an embodiment of the invention. As illustrated, aDVD-Video disc 20 can be inserted into a WebDVD player 10 to interactwith related web sites on a web server 25. Player 10 may also beimplemented in other forms, e.g., a PC, etc. Disc 20 may be either aWebDVD-Video disc or an existing legacy DVD-Video disc. In order to linka legacy DVD-Video disc to a related web site, player 10 makes use of aPVR_ID (Provider Unique ID) of the disc that uniquely identifies thecontent provider of the disc and a title ID (Title_ID) of the disc thatuniquely identifies a specific title of the disc (e.g., a movie).

A PVR_ID is present on every legacy DVD-Video disc and is located in aVMGI_MAT (Video Manager Information Management Table) data structure, asillustrated in Table 1. TABLE 1 Partial Data Structure of VMGI_MATRelative byte position in Number data structure Contents of bytes 0 to11 VMG_ID (VMG Identifier) 12 . . . . . . . . . 64 to 95 PVR_ID(Provider unique ID) 32 . . . . . . . . .

The VMGI_MAT contains control data for DVD video. The PVR_ID isdescribed with 32 bytes using the character set code of IS0646. WhenPVR_ID is less than 32 bytes, 00h will be described in the unused area.

The Title_ID, however, is not defined in the DVD-Video standards, butcan be made available in several ways. One way is to use a unique serialnumber located in the BCA (Burst Cutting Area) available in some legacyDVD-Video discs. Alternatively, the Volume Set ID in the UDF (UniversalDisc Format) file system of the disc may be used as the Title_ID.Another way is to use a unique Title_ID stored by the content providerin a data sector of the disc that contains private data. There are anumber of places in the data structure of the disc where the contentprovider can store their own information including the unique Title_ID.For example, the lead-in area for storing the content providerinformation may be used for such purpose. A third way is to use agenerated Title_ID. In this approach, a statistically unique Title_ID isgenerated from certain information on the disc. For example, theinformation in VMGI_MAT may be used to generate the Title_ID of a disc,as will be described in detail later. Using this approach ensures theavailability of the title IDs in all existing legacy discs.

In a first embodiment of the invention, player 10 includes a smalldatabase that contains a URL list of popular DVD content providers,e.g., AOL Time Warner, Walt Disney, etc. After disc 20 is loaded intoplayer 10, the player reads the PVR_ID from the disc and uses the PVR_IDto find the URL of the associated content provider from the URL list.The URL is indexed to a table which contains a list of some popularTitle_IDs produced by the content provider, location of the Title_ID onthe disc, the method of deriving the Title_ID, and the corresponding URLof the related web site, as illustrated in Table 2. Player 10 thenattempts to derive the Title_ID of the disc based on the data in thelocation and deriving method columns in the Table 2 and compares thederived Title_ID with the data in the Title_ID column to find thecorresponding URL for locating the specific web pages. TABLE 2 ExemplaryFormat of a Small Database in the Player Deriving Algorithm URL ofRelated Title_ID Location Method Type Web Site 0110101 . . . BCA ReadN/A www.aoltw.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011100 . . . VMGI_MATGenerate Type 2 www.disney.com ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Table 2, the location of the Title_ID may be in BCA, a data sectorcontaining private data, VMGI_MAT, or other places in the data structureof the disc. The deriving method column specifies a method of derivingthe Title_ID, e.g., read the Title_ID directly from a specific locationof the disc or use a particular algorithm, as indicated in the algorithmtype column, to generate the Title_ID. A list of algorithms correspondsto those algorithm types in Table 2 is pre-stored in the player, so thatthe player can use the indicated algorithm and the relevant data tocompute and generate the Title_ID. The URL of related web site columnindicates the corresponding URL. For example, if the location columnindicates “BCA” and the deriving method column indicates “Read”, player10 will try to read the BCA from the disc to find its Title_ID. However,not every DVD has BCA and also not every DVD player can read BCA. Inthis case, alternative method such as “Generate ID” may be used. In suchcase, player 10 will try to use the indicated algorithm to generate theTitle_ID based on the information in the specified location (e.g.,VMGI_MAT). There are many methods to generate the Title_ID. One way isto use a method similar to that in the CD-DB (CD Database) that linksCDs to a service web site, utilizing the starting and ending addressesof the title sets or chapters to compute and generate the Title_ID.Another way is to use the information in the VMGI_MAT to generate theTitle_ID. For example, the data in all fields of VMGI_MAT can be addedtogether and the sum can be divided by a particular number to generatethe Title_ID.

FIG. 2 illustrates a detailed process 30 of locating a related web sitefor a particular disc according to the first embodiment of theinvention. After a disc is loaded into the player (step 32), the playerdetects whether the disc loaded is a WebDVD from the file system of thedisc (step 34). If it is a WebDVD, the player links the disc to therelated web site in accordance with the WebDVD standard adopted by theDVD Forum (step 36), and starts the WebDVD navigation (step 38).

On the other hand, if the disc is a legacy DVD, player 10 reads thePVR_ID from the disc to determine the associated content provider (step40) and searches through the URL list in the database of the player(step 42) to find a corresponding URL of the content provider (step 44).If the URL is not in the list, player 10 will play the disc in aconventional manner by starting the conventional DVD-Video mode (step46). If, however, the corresponding URL is found from the list, the URLis indexed to the table illustrated in Table 2. Then player 10 will loada first entry of the table that is associated with the URL into a memoryof the player (step 48) and attempts to derive the Title_ID from thedisc based on the information from the location, deriving method andalgorithm type columns in that entry (step 50).

After the Title_ID of the disc is derived, it is compared with the datain the Title_ID column of the entry (step 52) to determine if there is amatch (step 54). If there is a match, player 10 will retrieve the URLdata in the URL column of the entry and use the URL data to link thedisc to the corresponding web pages of the content provider (step 58)and start the WebDVD navigation (step 60). If, however, the derivedTitle_ID does not match the data in the Title_ID column of the entry,player 10 will determine whether the entry is the last one in the list(step 62). If so, the player will link the disc to the general web siteof the content provider using the URL already found (step 64) and searchfor the specific URL for the disc in a similar manner as described above(step 66). The general web site would contain a table similar to Table2. Whether the specific URL is found is next determined (step 68). Ifthe specific URL is found, the player will link the disc to the specificURL (step 58) and start the WebDVD navigation (step 60). However, if itis not found, the player will play the disc in the conventional way(step 46).

In a variation of the first embodiment, if the player cannot find thePVR_ID from the disc, the player will simply load one entry of the tableinto the memory and attempt to derive the Title_ID of the disc based onthe data in the location, deriving method and algorithm type columns.The player then determines whether the derived Title_ID matches with thedata in the Title_ID column of the entry. The subsequent operations arethe same as those in the first embodiment.

According to a second embodiment of the invention, a database similar tothat in the player of the first embodiment is stored on a web server.This database has more comprehensive lists of the URL links to the websites of the content providers and their video titles for accessing bythe player. In the this embodiment, after disc 20 is loaded into player10, the player reads the PVR_ID and the Title_ID from the disc and linksthe disc to a source web site containing the database which may beprovided by the player manufacturer or some other organization (e.g.,DVD Forum) for searching a match.

FIG. 3 illustrates a detailed process 70 of locating a related web siteof a particular disc according to the second embodiment of theinvention. After a disc is loaded into the player (step 72), the playerdetects whether the disc loaded is a WebDVD from the file system of thedisc (step 74). If it is a WebDVD, the player links the disc to therelated web site in accordance with the WebDVD standard adopted by theDVD Forum (step 76), and start the WebDVD navigation (step 78).

On the other hand, if the disc is a legacy DVD, player 10 reads thePVR_ID (step 80) and derives the Title_ID from the disc (step 81). TheTitle_ID is derived in a default manner, e.g., by reading a particularlocation on the disc, such as BCA. The player links the disc to thesource web site (step 82) for searching the corresponding URL from thecomprehensive database, based on the PVR_ID and Title_ID (step 84). Ifthe URL is found, player 10 will link the disc to the corresponding website (step 86) and start the WebDVD navigation (step 88). If the URL isnot found, it could mean that the Title_ID derived in the default manneris incorrect. Then player 10 will obtain the information about thelocation, deriving method of the Title_ID and algorithm type from afirst entry in a table on the web site that is similar to Table 2 (step90).

The player then attempts to derive the Title_ID of the disc according tothe location, deriving method and algorithm type indicated by the firstentry of the table (step 92). After deriving the Title_ID of the disc,player 10 will use the PVR_ID and Title_ID just derived to search for acorresponding URL from the database on the web site (step 94) todetermine if a match is found (step 96). If the URL is found, player 10will link the disc to the corresponding web site (step 98), and startthe WebDVD navigation (step 100). However, if the URL is not found, adetermination of whether the entry is the last one in the table is made(step 102). If it is, it means that the disc is not supported by the website and player 10 will play the disc in a conventional manner bystarting the conventional DVD-Video mode (step 104). If it is not, steps90, 92, 94 and 96 will be repeated, along with steps 98 and 100 ifapplicable until either a match is found or all entries in the list havebeen examined.

A third embodiment of the invention combines the first and secondembodiments of the invention as described above. In the thirdembodiment, the player contains a list of the popular content providersin a small database to allow a preliminary search of a correspondingURL. If after searching through this database no match is found, thesource web site will be accessed by the player for conducting a morecomprehensive search. The flowchart diagram for the third embodiment ofthe invention is based on that in FIG. 2, except that if the URL is notfound at step 44, steps 81 through 104 in FIG. 3 will be implemented.

In the third embodiment above, the database in the player may beperiodically updated with new information from the source web site.Also, the player may cache the addresses of the specific web sites oncethey are accessed and delete old addresses not recently accessed so thatwhen the disc is played next time, the contents will be loaded faster.Further, users may even manually update the database with new web siteaddresses.

In the above, DVD-Video discs have been described in connection with theinvention. The same principles of the invention can be applied to othertypes of discs, e.g., DVD-Audio discs and Super Audio CDs (SACDs).

While the invention has been described in conjunction with specificembodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications andvariations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of theforegoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all suchalternatives, modifications and variations as fall within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

1. A WebDVD player, comprising: means for deriving a titleidentification (Title_ID) of a legacy DVD disc, the Title_ID being aunique identifier of a title of the disc; and means for linking the discto a related web site based on the derived Title_ID.
 2. The player ofclaim 1, wherein the Title_ID is derived in accordance with a methodspecified in a database.
 3. The player of claim 2, further comprisingmeans for determining whether the derived Title_ID matches an expectedvalue indicated in the database that is associated with the specifiedmethod.
 4. The player of claim 2, further comprising means forretrieving a universal resource locator (URL) in the database that isassociated with the expected value if the derived Title_ID matches theexpected value.
 5. The player of claim 2, wherein the Title_ID isderived by retrieving a unique identifier from a pre-selected locationof the disc.
 6. The player of claim 5, wherein the pre-selected locationis a burst cutting area (BCA).
 7. The player of claim 5, wherein thepre-selected location is a private data sector.
 8. The player of claim1, wherein the Title_ID is a Volumn Set ID in a Universal Disc Format(UDF) file system of the disc.
 9. The player of claim 2, wherein theTitle_ID is derived based on selected data available on the disc. 10.The player of claim 1, further comprising: means for retrieving aprovider unique identification (PVR_ID) from the disc; wherein theTitle_ID is derived based on the retrieved PVR_ID of the disc.
 11. Theplayer of claim 10, further comprising: means for storing a databasecontaining a list of universal resource locators (URLs) for linking toweb sites of preselected content providers, and a table of expectedTitle_IDs associated with the individual URLs; means for determiningwhether the retrieved PVR_ID matches a corresponding URL in the list;and means for searching through the Title_IDs in the table that areassociated with the corresponding URL for finding a matching Title_ID.12. The player of claim 11, wherein the database further includes a listof methods for deriving the Title_ID of a disc, the expected Title_IDsbeing respectively associated with the methods and derivable inaccordance with the respective methods; wherein the Title_ID is derivedin accordance with a method specified in the table; wherein thesearching means determines whether the derived Title_ID matches anexpected Title_ID in the table.
 13. The player of claim 12, wherein ifthe derived Title_ID fails to match any expected Title_ID in the table,the linking means links the disc to a general web site of a contentprovider using the corresponding URL.
 14. The player of claim 12,further comprising: means for accessing a source web site, if thederived Title_ID does not match any expected Title_ID in the table, thesource web site containing a database which includes a list of universalresource locator (URL) links to related web sites and their associatedPVR_IDs and Title_IDs; means for searching a corresponding URL in thedatabase based on the retrieved PVR_ID and derived Title_ID; and meansfor linking the disc to a related web site using the correspondingmatching URL.
 15. The player of claim 12, wherein the Title_ID isderived based on selected data available on the disc.
 16. A WebDVDplayer, comprising: means for retrieving a provider uniqueidentification (PVR_ID) from a legacy DVD disc; means for deriving atitle identification (Title_ID) from the disc in a default manner, theTitle_ID being a unique identifier of a title of the disc; means foraccessing a source web site containing a database which includes a listof universal resource locator (URL) links to related web sites and theirassociated PVR_IDs and Title_IDs; means for searching a correspondingURL in the database based on the retrieved PVR_ID and derived Title_ID;and means for linking the disc to a related web site using thecorresponding matching URL.
 17. The player of claim 16, wherein thedatabase further includes a list of methods for deriving the Title_ID ofa disc, the methods being associated with the Title_IDs which arederivable in accordance with the respective methods.
 18. The player ofclaim 17, further comprising: means for deriving the Title_ID of thedisc in accordance with a method specified in the database, if thecorresponding URL cannot be found by the searching means; and means fordetermining whether the derived Title_ID matches a Title_ID indicated inthe database that is associated with the specified method; wherein thesearching means searches an associated URL in the database based on theretrieved PVR_ID and the matching Title_ID; wherein the linking meanslinks the disc to a related web site using the associated URL.
 19. Theplayer of claim 18, wherein the method specified indicates retrieving aunique identifier from a pre-selected location of the disc.
 20. Theplayer of claim 18, wherein the Title_ID is derived based on selecteddata available on the disc.
 21. A method for linking a legacy DVD discto a related web site, the method comprising the steps of: deriving atitle identification (Title_ID) of the disc, the Title_ID being a uniqueidentifier of a title of the disc; and linking the disc to a related website based on the derived Title_ID.
 22. The method of claim 21, whereinthe Title_ID is derived in accordance with a method specified in adatabase.
 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step ofdetermining whether the derived Title_ID matches an expected valueindicated in the database that is associated with the specified method.24. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of retrieving auniversal resource locator (URL) in the database that is associated withthe expected value if the derived Title_ID matches the expected value.25. The method of claim 22, wherein the Title_ID is derived byretrieving a unique identifier from a pre-selected location of the disc.26. The method of claim 25, wherein the pre-selected location is a burstcutting area (BCA).
 27. The method of claim 25, wherein the pre-selectedlocation is a private data sector.
 28. The method of claim 21, whereinthe Title_ID is a Volumn Set ID in a Universal Disc File (UDF) filesystem of the disc.
 29. The method of claim 21, wherein the Title_ID isderived based on selected data available on the disc.
 30. The method ofclaim 29, further comprising the steps of: retrieving a provider uniqueidentification (PVR_ID) from the disc; wherein the Title_ID is derivedbased on the retrieved PVR_ID of the disc.
 31. The method of claim 30,further comprising the steps of: pre-storing a database containing alist of universal resource locators (URLs) for linking to web sites ofpre-selected content providers, and a table of expected Title_IDsassociated with the individual URLs; determining whether the retrievedPVR_ID matches a corresponding URL in the list; and searching throughthe Title_IDs in the table that are associated with the correspondingURL for finding a matching Title_ID.
 32. The method of claim 30, whereinthe database further includes a list of methods for deriving theTitle_ID of a disc, the expected Title_IDs being respectively associatedwith the methods and derivable in accordance with the respectivemethods; wherein the Title_ID is derived in accordance with a methodspecified in the table; wherein the searching step includes a step ofdetermining whether the derived Title_ID matches an expected Title_ID inthe table.
 33. The method of claim 32, further comprising the steps of:accessing a source web site, if the derived Title_ID does not match anyexpected Title_ID in the table, the source web site containing adatabase which includes a list of universal resource locator (URL) linksto related web sites and their associated PVR_IDs and Title_IDs;searching a corresponding URL in the database based on the retrievedPVR_ID and derived Title_ID; and linking the disc to a related web siteusing the corresponding matching URL.
 34. A method for linking a legacyDVD disc to a related web site, the method comprising the steps of:retrieving a provider unique identification (PVR_ID) from a legacy DVDdisc; deriving a title identification (Title_ID) from the disc in adefault manner, the Title_ID being a unique identifier of a title of thedisc; accessing a source web site containing a database which includes alist of universal resource locator (URL) links to related web sites andtheir associated PVR_IDs and Title_IDs; searching a corresponding URL inthe database based on the retrieved PVR_ID and derived Title_ID; andlinking the disc to a related web site using the corresponding matchingURL.
 35. The method of claim 34, wherein the database further includes alist of methods for deriving the Title_ID of a disc, the methods beingassociated with the Title_IDs which are derivable in accordance with therespective methods.
 36. The method of claim 35, further comprising thesteps of: deriving the Title_ID of the disc in accordance with a methodspecified in the database, if the corresponding URL cannot be found; anddetermining whether the derived Title_ID matches a Title_ID indicated inthe database that is associated with the specified method; wherein thesearching step searches an associated URL in the database based on theretrieved PVR_ID and the matching Title_ID; wherein the linking steplinks the disc to a related web site using the associated URL.
 37. Themethod of claim 36, wherein the Title_ID is derived based on selecteddata available on the disc.
 38. The player of claim 14, furthercomprising means for periodically updating the database and the tablestored by the storing means with information from the source web site.39. The player of claim 14, further comprising means for caching anaddress of a website address each time the web site is accessed.
 40. Theplayer of claim 14, further comprising means for allowing a user tomanually update the database and the table stored by the storing meanswith new information.